470 ST. LUCY spot, and a cbnroh was afterwards bnilt there and called by her name. The second legend is that a youth was in love with Lucy and continually pro- tested that it was her beautiful eyes that gaye him no rest and made him persecute her. She called to mind the words of Christ, ^' If thine eye oiSend thee, pluck it out," and fearing that her eyes should cause the final destruction of her lover and herself, cut out her eyes with a knife and sent them to him in a dish. (This incident is told also of Lugt (17), Me- DANA (1) and Triduana.) He,nlledwith remorse and admiration, became a Chris- tian and a pattern of virtae. Lucy's fjGbith and courage were rewarded by the restoration of her eyes, more beautiful than before. Vega, in Flos Sanciarum, gives the first of these two legends, making no mention of eyes, but there is a woodcut at the top of the chapter, in which she is represented bearing her eyes in a plate. The third story of St. Lucy is that she suffered martyrdom by having her eyes put out; but this is not an old legend. Another was told to mo in a church at Milan, in explanation of a picture there: — Her eyes were put out by a Koman emperor whose love she despised. The Lord gave her a new pair of eyes to reward her virtue, and she ever after carried the old ones in her hand. B,M. According to Alban Butler (Lives), she was honoured at Home, in the 6th century, among the most illus- trious of the virgins and martyrs whom the Church celebrated, as appears from the Sacramentary of St. Gregory. Her festival was kept in England until the Keformation, as a festival of the second rank, in which no work was done except tillage, etc. Her body was trans- lated to Metz by Otho I., emperor. Mr. Swainson, Weather Folk -lore, quotes,
- < Lucy-light, the shortest day and the
longest night." St. Lucy (0) of Cyrene, early in the 4th century. (See Cyprilla.) St Lucy (iO), v., 4- 8()0, seventh abbess of Horros at Treves. Saussaye, Appendix. St. Lucy ( 1 1 ) of Sarapigny, Sept. 1 9, oth, Oth, or 11th century. Patron of Sampigny, and of Mont Ste. Lucie. Represented on her tomb, dressed as a princess, keeping sheep. The tradition is that she was the daughter of a king of the Scots and was religious from childhood. She never appeared in public except at church or to give alms. One day she beard a sermon in which the preacher quoted St. Matthew, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." She determined to leave the court, her family and country. She crossed the sea and travelled through part of France. When she arrived in Lorraine, the Mouse was so swollen that she could not cross it, but she took refuge on a neighbouring hill. There she met a labourer, named Theobald, who received her charitably. Perceiving something superior about her, he offered to feed her in his hut as long as she chose to stay. She accepted his hospitality, on condition that she might work as a servant and have the humblest offices to perform. She kept the sheep and did the work of the house, which was beyond her strength, but the grace of God sustained her, and the joy she felt in seeing herself servant to a poor villager so elated her that she found nothing too hard. Theobald appreciated her services so much that at his death, as his wife and children had died before him, he left her all his property. Having renounced a kingdom for the love of poverty, she did not care to attach her- self to a little farm, but sold it and gave all to the poor with the exception of the house, which she converted into a church in honour of the Holy Trinity, the Queen of the angels, and the Apostles Peter and Paul. She made a grotto inside the church, where she spent the rest of her days in prayer and mortification. A rude seat is still shown in the rock, where she rested when she could no longer resist sleep. She once carried live coals in her gown without burning it. She was about forty when she died. Her father came to fetch her body but it was found impossible to move the cart on which it was ; he therefore took the head and left
